the white noise is deafening silence

[thespaceopera]

[In the very early hours of January 20th, as the Marsiva and her captives drift nonchalantly through the depths of the universe, there is a call. Every single personal communicator and console springs to life, spitting out a stream of indecipherable static and showing only gray snow on screen. It continues like this for a few seconds longer, going black and then going staticky, and then the signal switches to the encrypted channel generally used for speaking to the Interceptors when something big goes down.

This is a little more successful. The voice may be familiar to some, at least through the static.]

Zhade here! I trust I ███ your attention? I'm having some ██▓▓ble ██tting through. Some of the ░▓██▓█ are missing. I can't ░▓▓▓ read on their loc█████ns. [A particularly long burst of static.] ███stening. I'll s█▓▓█ more inf██▓▓▓▓▓█ I get it.

Stay sharp! [There's the sound of someone actually doing the fingerguns wink noise, and then static.

Any messages sent back won't get through, and Zhade isn't there to answer.]

[ A blip of lost time passes right after those words, before every passenger mysteriously wakes alone in their own unfamiliar room. The style of decor resembles that of the Marsiva's Hospitality Deck, if any passengers should remember what that's like. It sounds and smells the same as the host ship as well, all clean and chrome.

Welcome back to the Marsiva, dear passengers. It's time for round three of calibrations. ]

[ This mingle will cover all non-calibration room interactions. Please continue to come back to it for the duration of the plot! You are, of course, free to post any other mingles/posts/etc. that you'd like. ]

Comments

[tempredmental]

[Keith glanced back at the clock for a moment, and then back at her, an amused look on his face.]

I guess... though, you'll probably just wake up back in your room again in the morning.

[necromanswers]

Probably!

[She shrugs her shoulders, unperturbed.]

But that'll be on them, not me. I don't like the idea of slinking off to my pen when we hit some arbitrary curfew.

[tempredmental]

[Keith chuckled a bit.]

Yeah... I was never really one for rules, either.

So, you just inviting anyone in? Is the hot chocolate any good? [It was probably from the Fleet rations, so the flavor might not be the best.]

[necromanswers]

Sure, why not? Shit's better with company. And if you wanna know, come and try it for yourself.

[She waves him closer, shifting aside and grabbing a mug, pouring some hot chocolate from a kettle she stole from the kitchen, which is visibly full. She offers the mug out to him, lightly steaming, and it smells amazing. Funny enough, despite being made with the crap rations available in the kitchen, it tastes as good as it smells.]

[tempredmental]

[Keith settled into the blanket fort, accepting the offered drink. He looked surprised for a moment as he caught the scent, and then carefully tasted it (between it being hot and him having low expectations, he was wary, okay?).]

Okay... this doesn't taste like it came from the kitchen...

[necromanswers]

Ding ding ding! Correct. ...Well, half correct. It did come from the kitchen, but I made it taste better than it should. You can thank magic for that.

[tempredmental]

Magic, huh?

[Keith glanced back down at the mug for a moment, and then settled in, taking another sip. Somehow, that didn't bother him all that much anymore.]

Good trick. Have you considered food, too?

[necromanswers]

Considered it? Clearly you've never been to the Heron or the First Breath, my dude.

[tempredmental]

Oh... well, not recently. I had a friend on the Heron for a while. He's a chef, actually, and he did some pretty amazing stuff with what they had available. And the Heron does have one of the best kitchens in the Fleet.

But, I haven't been over there since Atroma did whatever it is they do to make people go missing...

[He shrugged... trying not to show just how much he missed having Hunk around... for more than just his cooking, really.]

[necromanswers]

Oh, that's probably why. When I showed up, the captain gushed about what a great chef they used to have, so I ended up taking over. Compared to some other places I've cooked, the kitchen's not too bad.

[tempredmental]

It has the most upgrades.

[Keith shrugged a bit.]

But, yeah... Hunk's really good at cooking. [He smiled at that.] He's a good friend, too.

It's good, though, that you figured out a way to make it work... even if it's legit magic. The standard stuff leaves a lot to be desired. We try to stock up on as much as we can when we stop at planets and stuff if only just to have something other than those gels and solids.

[necromanswers]

Yeah, I've done that a few times at this point, and it helps. Magic is a short-term fix, and there are limits attached- conjured food only lasts for a day, and magic flavouring lasts an hour. Food's always better when it's cooked fresh, but the real stuff will still give you tasty leftovers.

[tempredmental]

Oh, definitely. The leftovers thing is something I used often.

[He chuckled at that.]

When I got accepted into the Garrison, Shiro tried to help me out with stuff like that, since I'd been at the group home for a while. But, I ended up being a better cook than him. Then again, almost anyone is a better cook than Shiro, so it wasn't a very high bar.

[necromanswers]

[She snorts out a laugh, lowering her cup to avoid spilling as she giggles.]

Oh, man. I've never seen him in the kitchen, but that's a surprise! He comes across as one of those hyper-capable guys, good at everything.

[tempredmental]

Yeah... and, honestly? He almost is. But he's just a disaster when it comes to cooking.

[Keith chuckled.]

It's like the one thing I can hold over him.

[Okay, so breaking some of Shiro's records in the Garrison would probably count for that, too, but Keith didn't usually bring those up.]

[necromanswers]

There's nothing quite like that feeling when it comes to somebody you're close to. Especially if they're good at everything.

[tempredmental]

Yeah. [Keith smiled fondly.] We're both a little competitive, too. [Though, for himself, that was something of an understatement. Shiro was a little better at hiding it.]

[necromanswers]

If you ask me, that's an integral part of any friendship. People who just breeze through life can be boring.

[tempredmental]

I guess. I hadn't really considered it before.

[He smiled a bit.]

But, if anything, he does give me something to strive for... an ideal, of sorts.

[necromanswers]

Just be careful not to make it weird. Nothing good comes from idealizing some poor chucklefuck who's only trying to live his best life.

[Maybe that's just her inner-cynic talking, because she can't relate, but... she wouldn't really want to be anyone else's ideal.]

[tempredmental]

[Keith went quiet for a moment, visibly considering it.]

Is it really weird?

[necromanswers]

I'm just saying it can be! When you put somebody on a pedestal, it can change how you judge them when they screw up, or mess with your perspective.

[tempredmental]

[Keith looked thoughtful about that.]

Yeah. I can see how that could happen. [It kind of already had. There was a reason for that scar on Keith's face, and for Shiro's replacement robotic arm.]

It made it hard for us to see when something was wrong not that long ago.

[necromanswers]

Ahh, so you've got some experience under your belt, then.

[She sips idly at her cocoa.]

Well, lesson learned, right? We fuck up so we can do better next time. I'm sure he'd appreciate you noticing that sort of thing in the future.

[tempredmental]

Yeah. [Lup had no idea. Shiro had feared that exact thing, and then had told Keith that he needed to be the one to stop him... to kill him... and Keith had found himself in that exact spot. Just like with the stepping up to lead the team thing. Shiro was really good at reading a situation, apparently.]

It's a heck of a mistake, though. We paid a huge price for it.